Shirts, mugs, and more Hobo gear

As promised earlier today, the new Hobo gear is good to go, all sporting the fresh new logo and design. Go check it out and see what new gear you'll wanna get. It's all through cafe press, so shoot me a request if you don't see exactly what you want and I'll see if I can put it together for you.

Logo for a Hobo

I asked Danny if he might be able to whip up a little Hobo dude logo. What I got in return was awesome. Thanks danny! To everybody who's asked about the shirts, they're coming really soon now that this little guy is on the scene, I'll post again when they're good to go.

Hey Craig, I borrowed your list

Just a day after releasing Hobo Rideshare, I've made it even better. The only other site doing a decent job with providing rides (and everything else including jobs and free stuff) is craigslist. Everyone knows about it, and half the people you know scored their apartment off the site. They may have a ton of listings all over the world, but it's not exactly pretty to look at it, they don't even have a map... yea I know what you're thinking "we get it, you love this map crap, get over it!". Screw you guys, maps are awesome, and you love 'em too.

So I spent a bunch of time pulling in all the cities on craigslist (in america at least, it still took a while) into my database and now the most recent rides posted on craigslist will show up on Hobo Lifestyle as well. What does that mean? It means every ride worth riding can be found on HoboLifestyle.com now, so you have no excuse not to check it out when you're itching for a road trip or a way to get home on vacation.

Since craigslist is pretty basic, I can't easily show their listing on the map like I can with listings posted directly on my site, but I'm going to try anyways. For example when you post on Hobo Lifestyle you put your start and end locations in separate fields and I can then put those on the map, with craigslist they just give you one big text box and want you to explain where you're going and from where. What I'm going to try is using the city they posted in as the start, and scouring the text for words like "to" and taking the word after as the destination, like "I'm going to portland". Something like that, it's not a big deal I guess, but it would be fun. If you have a better idea give me a shout and I'll see if I can try and make it work.

Need a ride? Across the country? Done.

OK, I don't mean to sound like a cocky asshole... with a dirty mouth (fingers?) ...but damn! This is fucking awesome! You can find someone driving wherever you need to go easily, who cares if you have a car? HoboLifestyle.com started as a way of tracking one man, Ken Flannery (me) and has quickly evolved to much more.

Hobo Ride Finder is the latest addition to the site, and I created it in as many days as I've been in California; from thought to reality in less than a week. Go to http://www.HoboLifestyle.com/travel and you'll find a way to find a ride or add a ride to where you're going on. You'll see a map of all the rides going on across the country or across your state to quickly travel where you want to go. You have no excuse not to travel anymore, life just got easier. Sure, I'm a friggin' Hobo, but I'm not the only one who needs to get from A to B.

This is merely the beginning. CouchSurfing.com made it possible to spend a few nights in any place in the world on the cheap, and Hobo Lifestyle made it possible to get there (at least by car). Expect greatness, though, challenge me damnit. Planes and trains are next, and I expect to try to one up CouchSurfing.com in the spirit of competition and collaboration. Good times are coming. By the way, Hobo Lifestyle Ride Finder is BRAND NEW, if you can't find a ride here, try craigslist, they have a similar service. If you're going on a ride, PLEASE post it at least to kick start the site, as it's much more friendly than craigslist.

Release the Hobos!

So I've been coding a lot lately since getting to Portland, and I'm ready to let everyone know what I've been up to, and if you've been to the site today you've probably seen some of this.

First of all, HoboLifestyle.com is now the official site, Hobo2.0Lifestyle.com will now point to my profile on the main site. Profile you ask? Oh yes.

Perhaps it was a bit selfish to keep it all to myself - the maps, my episodes, and the other cool stuff I've built on the site - or more likely I just think it would be really cool to see what other hobos and travelers are up to. So everything is just about setup for other hobos to join and release their own episodes, their own maps, and all the other good stuff I've been doing for a little while now.

I had to change a lot of stuff to prepare it for other people to start creating their own profiles. In the process I've made it easier to post episodes myself, and I've made the map so much better. It runs a little quicker, and it now defaults to showing my path across the world and exactly where I am the moment, check it out to see what I'm talking about.

I won't stop there either, I have plenty of other goodness in the works to help us hobos carry on including some ways to find places to stay (similar to couchsurfing.com, perhaps even working with them), ways to find rides and travel, and just plenty of ways to find resources about places and people.

Stay tuned, I'll let everybody know exactly when you can create your own profile. Good times.

The Weight of My World on My Shoulders

I have literally everything I own on my back. Wow.. that's pretty heavy. I've gotten it on a train ride from Whitefish to Portland, and carried it on probably every street in Portland going every direction.

I actually had someone tell me today that my pack might be able to pass as a carry on... not sure about that myself. I kept a small pack to use for that purpose, and as a day pack for my laptop and whatnot when I'm staying places.

It could stand to lose a few pounds, and there's still some firsts coming up for me and my pack - first flight, first wash cycle, first rain storm (oh i'm prepared, believe me), and probably plenty more surprises. For now I'm enjoying the process and the lifestyle that demanded this pack in the first place.

Some pictures and a new episode are coming soon of course, I'm purposely not posting pictures right away to give Sean a hard time, so I hope he's enjoying that and hears my laughter from 3 timezones behind him. Portland is great, I'll tell you more about it soon. Until then, good times and happy travels.

"Nothing" makes me Happy

Today I'm free. I'm sitting in a coffee shop in Whitefish, MT, I've said goodbye to family and all my possessions that wouldn't fit in the backpack by my feet.

It's a good backpack too, a bit heavy, but plenty workable and worth much more than it's weight. Swiss army pack pretty much. I can be thrown out into the woods - I have my sleeping bag and a bivy sack (kind of like a one man tent that goes over the sleeping bag) and I've even got a small pot for cooking. Solar power is on my side, a water filter makes all water drinking water, my laptop of course (the Hobo 2.0 element), and even the ability use my phone get internet anywhere and everywhere I may be.

As self-reliant as that all is, I'm excited to start seeing new people and places, and sites like CouchSurfing.com make that really easy. I just started using it, and have already got in touch with some folks from Portland, OR willing to lend me their couch space. Tonight I'll be catching a train over there, and arrive sometime in the mourning.

Sites are going well too, MoBubble is really coming together and about to the point to start having some people test it out and for us to try and get some more funding for it. The Hobo site has also been going through some major changes behind the scenes, really cool stuff, still no word on when I might release all that craziness quite yet. Stay tuned, good times.